My wife loves having an mp3 player with her when she works out. One of the most important factors for her was that it had an arm band. Compare the iPod mini to other wearable mp3 players on the market. Most in the 512mb range are $200+. Looking at it from that end the iPod mini isn't a bad deal. But the fact that it came in pink didn't hurt either.
1. Equipment Sony, Toshiba, and a few others make set-top-boxes that decode uhf and DirectTV singanls. Plus they seamlessly intergrate the 2 into one on-screen program guide. I have the Toshiba DST-3000. Works great. We love it. Especialy attached to our 67" Toshiba HDTV.
You only need one Dish for DirectTV. It is parabolic with 2-3 dual lnbs and a auto multi switch. (That was fun to point)
2. Programing. I am sure this depends on your market. In Houston all the major networks have upgraded to HD and the networks are starting to offer more programs every month.
I admit that consumer education on what is required to recieve HDTV is lacking. And that the people who should know (Sales reps, customer service reps for DirectTV) are full of misinformation.
We've had access to this type of information for the last few years, and it comes directly from government websites not non-profit groups. The state of Texas has been pushing for local goverments to make as much public information available on the internet as possible. This currently there is voter information, property tax info, booking and release info from the county jail, sex offender info, and lots more.
But the information is still fairly obscure. It is scatered accross dozens of wesites, and is normally burried pretty deep. Most people don't even know the information is there, or have trouble finding and making sense of it. In the last few year that this has been available I can not remember any reports of missuse of this information.
Personaly I'm glad the inforamtion is on the net. I can renew my vechicle registration, find my car that got towed for unpaid parking tickets, find out where to vote, see how much I owe in properity taxes, know if a sex offender has moved in next door, and see if any on I know needs me to come bail them out of jail. All in 5 min with out having to talk to rude, disintersted, underpaid clerks at 5 different local government offices.
A few examples:
http://police.baytown.org My home town police. Arrest Warants, Incedent Reports, Sex Ofenders, Current Jail Guests updated every 15 min
Actually, The Apex AD-600A DVD player has an a not so secret menu that alows the use to change regions and turn off macrovision (so you can play back through a VCR). And it play MP3s. This link has instructions on how to access the menu and discussions groups.
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My wife loves having an mp3 player with her when she works out. One of the most important factors for her was that it had an arm band. Compare the iPod mini to other wearable mp3 players on the market. Most in the 512mb range are $200+. Looking at it from that end the iPod mini isn't a bad deal. But the fact that it came in pink didn't hurt either.
1. Equipment
Sony, Toshiba, and a few others make set-top-boxes that decode uhf and DirectTV singanls. Plus they seamlessly intergrate the 2 into one on-screen program guide. I have the Toshiba DST-3000. Works great. We love it. Especialy attached to our 67" Toshiba HDTV.
You only need one Dish for DirectTV. It is parabolic with 2-3 dual lnbs and a auto multi switch. (That was fun to point)
2. Programing.
I am sure this depends on your market. In Houston all the major networks have upgraded to HD and the networks are starting to offer more programs every month.
I admit that consumer education on what is required to recieve HDTV is lacking. And that the people who should know (Sales reps, customer service reps for DirectTV) are full of misinformation.
We've had access to this type of information for the last few years, and it comes directly from government websites not non-profit groups. The state of Texas has been pushing for local goverments to make as much public information available on the internet as possible. This currently there is voter information, property tax info, booking and release info from the county jail, sex offender info, and lots more.
t s.htm Booking and Releases at the Harris County Jail (With Bail Amounts)
But the information is still fairly obscure. It is scatered accross dozens of wesites, and is normally burried pretty deep. Most people don't even know the information is there, or have trouble finding and making sense of it. In the last few year that this has been available I can not remember any reports of missuse of this information.
Personaly I'm glad the inforamtion is on the net. I can renew my vechicle registration, find my car that got towed for unpaid parking tickets, find out where to vote, see how much I owe in properity taxes, know if a sex offender has moved in next door, and see if any on I know needs me to come bail them out of jail. All in 5 min with out having to talk to rude, disintersted, underpaid clerks at 5 different local government offices.
A few examples:
http://police.baytown.org My home town police. Arrest Warants, Incedent Reports, Sex Ofenders, Current Jail Guests updated every 15 min
http://www.tax.co.harris.tx.us Voter Info, Property Tax Info
http://www.co.harris.tx.us/jimsweb/towed Towed Cars in Harris County (Houston, TX)
http://www.co.harris.tx.us/jims/jimsreports/repor
Reading off of the back the power supply 4.1 VDC 0.4A 6.0 VDC 0.1A
Try here.
Sorry
Actually,
The Apex AD-600A DVD player has an a not so secret menu that alows the use to change regions and turn off macrovision (so you can play back through a VCR). And it play MP3s. This link has instructions on how to access the menu and discussions groups.